Jim Lewis
Jim Lewis is a former Jim Henson Company staff writer with a wide variety of writing and production credits. Lewis first worked with the Muppets as the editor of Muppet Magazine. His first actual production was the 1988 direct-to-video Hey, You're as Funny as Fozzie Bear. His other credits include: *''Wow, You're a Cartoonist!'' *''Miss Piggy's Hollywood'' for The Jim Henson Hour (with Bill Prady) *Primary writer on Jim Henson's The Animal Show *''Billy Bunny's Animal Songs'' *''Muppet Classic Theater'' (with Bill Prady) *Parody lyrics for "She Drives Me Crazy" *''It's Not Easy Being Green'' *''Yes, I Can'' *Writer and co-producer on Muppets Tonight *''Telling Stories with Tomie dePaola'' *''Kermit's Swamp Years'' (with Joey Mazzarino) *''The Muppet Show Live'' (with Craig Shemin) *The original writer on It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, for which he shared credit with Tom Martin *co-producer on Studio DC: Almost Live! *''Lady Gaga & the Muppets' Holiday Spectacular'' *"Pure Imagination" music video As is the case with fellow Muppet writer Craig Shemin, the credited work of Jim Lewis represents the tip of the iceberg of his true contributions. From the late 1980s through 2004, Lewis was the Muppets' primary in-house writer, contributing to countless interviews, promotional material and Muppet appearances. He was responsible for a large amount of web content and a great many of the press quotes attributed to the Muppets, and he also wrote much of the Gonzo/Rizzo/Kermit material on the Muppets from Space DVD commentary. In this capacity, Jim Lewis contributed a great deal to maintaining the tone and consistency of the Muppet characters in the years since Jim Henson's death. One classic example of his work was Kermit the Frog's 2002 acceptance speech on receiving a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame: "The most important people I want to thank today are all you people over here, the fans ... Because of you, I'm able to stand here today, uh, on a huge stack of phone books, accepting one of the greatest honors in show business... When I was looking around yesterday, I saw all the stars of the great performers nearby. I'm proud to be their new neighbor. Like my friend Edgar Bergen, whose magic with Charlie McCarthy kind of inspired my career, and my closest friend Jim Henson. Now Jim not only inspired my career, he actually inhabited it. And Jim was a great man whose work moved us all, especially me." The 2006 book release of Before You Leap, which was "written" by Kermit the Frog, was actually penned by Lewis. Lewis also penned Pepe the King Prawn's 2008 book It's Hard Out Here for a Shrimp. Although credited as co-producer of Muppets Tonight, according to Lewis, In addition to writing, Lewis served as a one-time puppeteer of a clarinetist penguin in the orchestra shown in Muppet Classic Theater.Lewis, Jim, Muppet Central Form: "The Brand New Ask Jim Lewis Thread," September 2008. Sources External links * The Muppet Newsflash's Interview with Jim Lewis * The Muppet Mindset's Interview with Jim Lewis __NOWYSIWYG__ Category:Writers Category:Authors Category:Producers Category:Muppet Puppeteers Category:Lyricists